Where has this year gone? I don’t know about you, but even summer is just a blur to me. Before we know it, we will be singing Christmas Carols and opening Christmas gifts. I’m so not ready for that… and neither is my pocketbook.

I do love fall, though. I love the colors, the smells, the crisp cool air, cooking soups, and cuddling under my warm blanket. This year, I’m going to try some of those Pinterest crock pot recipes. Fall also means that Halloween is quickly approaching. I love to decorate and hand out candy! We don’t do all the scary stuff, but I love pumpkins, bats, and the traditional Halloween colors.

I love creating fun treats for Halloween, and am excited to show you how! I had a bunch of muslin bags stashed away that I bought online… and I knew this would be the perfect time to use them. These treat bags are perfect for school parties, co-workers, friends, and family.

 

 

To create these treat bags, I used Mommyish’s kit Hallowed Gothic. There are some GREAT papers and elements in this kit, and it is perfect for making everything from cards, to a fun banner for that big Halloween party you have planned, to cupcake toppers, and more! The list goes on and on. Put that imagination to work.

 

 

Supply List: any Halloween-themed kit of your choice; muslin Bags (I purchased mine online & they are 3″x5″); parchment paper; scissors; iron-on transfer paper (I got mine at Wal-Mart); iron; printer; and, of course, lots of candy to fill the finished product with.

 

 

I used the Silhouette Designer Edition software to create the print page, but you can use just about any photo-editing software out there. First, I opened all of the elements I wanted to use and positioned them on the 8.5″ x 11″ mat because my printer will not print any larger than that. As you can see, you can put more images on the page. Because you can trim close to your image, I would recommend doing that (a penny saved is more in my pocket to purchase more crafting supplies! …OK, it takes more than a penny, but you get what I am saying!).

 

 

Now, this is an important tip — to ensure that the images aren’t backwards when you iron them on, you have to do a “Mirror Image.”  I mirrored left, but I don’t think it matters which way they are mirrored, as long as they are “backwards.”

 

 

After printing the images onto the iron-on transfer paper, cut around the images. I find that the closer you cut, the better your finished project looks.

 

 

Once you have cut them out, lay them face down on the bags and put a piece of parchment paper on top. This keeps the item you are ironing from burning. I also laid a piece down under my bag (because I was using my desk as an “ironing board,” and it’s all wood — not really the ideal place to iron).

 

 

Apply the iron firmly with your body weight for about 20 seconds, while moving it around the whole image. If you are using a steam iron, make sure that it is NOT set on steam, but instead — on the highest cotton setting. You can take a peek by lifting the edge, and go over it again if needed (I have done this and it does work). I’ve found that if your iron is not hot enough, it leaves more of a worn look on the finished product.

 

 

Wait 2-3 seconds before removing the backing. This is called a “hot peel” and it leaves a matte finish.

 

 

For a glossy finish, however, wait until it is completely cool before you remove the backing. You guessed it… this is called a “cold peel.” It really does make a difference.

 

 

I can’t wait to hand out these little treat bags! I hope the Trick-or-Treaters enjoy them as much as I enjoyed making them. We don’t usually have a lot of kids come around in our neighborhood, so I’m able to make these for those who do. If we had more, I would probably make something different… like a tag attached to the treat or something simpler like that.

I Hope this tutorial was helpful and that it has inspired you! If you’d like to give it a try, head on over to the challenge forum and you can participate in the corresponding hybrid challenge… while having fun creating something awesome for Halloween. I can’t wait to see your creations!

You can pick up this kit for 50% off using the code listed below!

 

About the Author:  Tanya is a part of the Hybrid team here at The Digital Press. She has been hybrid crafting for at least 10 years now, and loves creating and sharing those creations with others. Her all-time favorite tool is her Silhouette Cameo. She says “with the Cameo the sky is the limit!” Tanya has been married for 26 years and has two sons: Chris, 23 and Chance, 19. She also enjoys crocheting, photography and woodworking.

 

Hi everyone! It’s the start of a new month, and that means a new crop of challenges in the forums here at The Digital Press. Each month we create a series of blog posts and challenges that correspond with one word. This month, we chose the word SAVOR (or SAVOUR if you’re not from the USA like me!).

“Savor” can be interpreted many different ways and we would love to have you join us as we investigate these different aspects through our scrapbooking.

I personally gravitated towards the “Once she stopped rushing through life, she was amazed how much more life she had time for” and “stop the glorification of busy” word art. I was thinking about how this feeling of overwhelm and overcommitment sometimes consumes me. When those times hit, I know I have to reevaluate and adjust. Taking time to savor slowness or the slowing down of a hectic pace is really important!

There have been other times in my life when time was already going slowly (like when I had three children 16 months and younger), and I had to remember to savor and take joy in the little, seemingly mundane moments and tasks that filled my days during that season of life. I’m grateful for the role of memory keeping in my life then as well. I wrote things down and took lots of photos of everyday events so I could savor them, either in the moment or several years later, as I do now.

This is what helps me slow down currently: working in the kitchen, my happy place.

So, what about you? Will you take some time to savor slowing down? Is there something you have or do that helps you slow down? Is your life already slow and you’re looking to savor some of those slow moments? I’m hosting a challenge over on the forums at The Digital Press and I hope you will come play along! Check it out at The Drawing Board: Challenges. See you there!

 

About the Author: Amy is a wife and mom to three from Ontario, Canada. She’s always been interested in scrapbooking, but didn’t try digiscrapping until 2008 when she received PSE for her birthday. By then she had 1 year old twins and a baby, so the thought of just playing for 10 minutes, hitting save and walking away with no mess was extremely appealing! She’s been hooked ever since. She loves being the memory keeper in the family, loves taking photos, loves telling the stories. She’s also excited to know that these memories are recorded for her grandchildren to enjoy someday!

Today is my 20th wedding anniversary. It should be a day of celebration, joy and remembrance. But it is not. You see, on June 2nd my husband told me he wanted a divorce. My world crashed. Unfortunately, I am sure many of you know exactly what I am talking about. You have been there and done that. And if you don’t know what I am talking about, I pray you never do. These last couple of months have been the worst months of my life. It is especially hard because of my kids. Don’t hurt my kids. But there is nothing I can do to shelter them from this except to move forward through it.

I made up my mind that I would not let this process ruin me. It would not ruin my integrity. It would not change the core of who I am. I am a Christian and I have a very strong faith in the Lord. I have had to make choices each day, sometimes each second, to live the way the Bible says I should live. Not because of “rules”. But because God knows what is best for my soul and mind. I have had to turn to friends. I have had to ask for help. I have to trust day by day that God is taking care of my girls and me. It is the only thing that has gotten me through these last couple of months.

I know not everyone believes like I do.  But you believe in something right? What gets you through the negative things that happen in your life? How have you walked through the fire and come out on the other side? Are you walking through it now? In the past? Do you see something coming that you know will rock your world? How are you going to wake up every morning? This is my challenge. Scrap the negative. But don’t scrap it in a negative way. Talk about how you are going to move forward. How are you going to or how did you get from the horrible situation to a better day? Maybe like me, you are walking through it as you read this. Prophesize about the positive. About what you want to happen. What will happen. Speak “life” in your layout even though you are or were surrounded by “death”. Move forward in your layout. Don’t get stuck in the now. Don’t get stuck in the past. Move forward.

Here is the layout I created with the kit Limitless by Karla Dudley and Amanda Yi:

I can’t wait to see your success stories of moving forward in our challenge forum!

 

About the Author: Heidi has been scrapping for 17 years. Her passions include dark chocolate, photography of her family and reading Christian fiction. When not doing one of these activities, she can be found working at an elementary school library or enjoying being a mom.

 

Kennedy started kindergarten this year. It made me recall all of my memories of that first venture into school and all of the fun things we did. I remember losing a tooth in an ice cream cone at school, dressing up as a clown with red frosting on my nose for the school circus, helping with a centennial mosaic, and other things. During my kindergarten year, since it was the centennial celebration, we also created a time capsule as a school. Each student got to bring something small to put inside. For some reason, I have an image of creating a little doll inside of a sardine can and saying it was baby Jesus, which is funny because we didn’t go to church as a family, and we never had sardines. So I could be completely confused about the whole thing.

Anyway, it also got me thinking about how fast things are changing. With the leaps in technology, things seem/feel totally different than they did even five years ago. We communicate differently. We listen to music in new ways. Entertainment is constantly moving in new directions whether it is tv, streaming videos, books, and/or other activities. What we eat and drink seems to constantly shift. And our storage of memories evolves on a regular basis. It is the perfect time to document these things and create a little project for the future.

Creating a letter to the future you, or creating a time capsule for the future, is a great way to capture the essence of NOW and also to imagine what things will be like 20 or 30 years into the future. I’ve seen examples of people creating time capsules for their children to be opened on significant future birthdays, couples creating anniversary time capsules, families gathering up items and doing this as a fun project to do together, and of course you can do it for just you as well. There are millions of ways to do it.

A letter is certainly easier to store/transport/save, but a time capsule could definitely have its advantages. The tactile experience of digging through the items stored inside is a fun thing to think about. Either way, you will want to create a way to store your message to the future. You could also create a scrap page or mini album to set aside for the future.

The first thing would be to decide on what your project will entail and who will be involved.

 

Next, select a container. If you want to keep a letter safe, create it on archival paper that won’t break down easily. The same for any envelope. Keep it somewhere that it won’t get damp or dirty. Add a date to be opened on the outside of any envelope. You could always send the text of the letter to your email address and save that in a folder as well. For a mini album or scrap page, decide how and where you will keep it for the future. If you are going the time capsule route, find a sturdy container that is easily stored and will keep items safe and dry. One family used an old suitcase as a container (genius!), and another used empty paint cans that you can get at home improvement stores and decorate as you wish (so clever).  Burying your time capsule might sound like a fun idea, but you would have to ensure that the container would withstand elements, and that you would be able to find it easily.

Decide what to include. If you are writing a letter, talk about what is going on in your typical daily routine. Include information about prices, current events, what your hopes/dreams are for the future, predictions you have, etc. Include pictures, lists of favorites, drawings, handprints, clothing sizes, etc. If you create a time capsule, you can include all of those things and more (based on the size of your capsule). Be creative and have some fun with it.

 

There are all sorts of printables you can find on line to fill out and include in your “fast forward” project. And of course you can dip into your own personal well of creativity and come up with fun things on your own.

There is an organization called the International Time Capsule Society. If you are so inclined, you can even register your time capsule with them by filling out a form online here. (It is really pretty elaborate.)

Here are a few links to give you some ideas.

http://workathomemums.hubpages.com/hub/Lock-in-the-Past-How-to-Make-a-Time-Capsule

http://www.howdoesshe.com/why-you-need-a-family-time-capsule/

http://lets-explore.net/blog/2009/08/time-capsule-in-a-tube/

http://www.apartystyle.com/2010/05/time-capsule.html

 

Hopefully these ideas got you thinking and wanting to communicate with the future.

Your challenge is waiting in the forum.

 

  About the Author: Kimberlee is a lover not a fighter; a stay-at-home gran, a poet, and a lifelong learner. She grooves on         saturated colors, Tuesday dance parties, optimism, glitter and sunshine. She colors outside the lines.  She is a dreamer. She is a collector of moments.  She is all about the story.  Kimberlee completed her MFA in Creative Writing and is just finished her M.Ed. in Instructional Design.

We all have different plans for our weekend, different chores and different ideas of how we want to spend the time. How you spend your weekend now might be quite different than how you spent them last year, or many years ago, and probably will be quite different in years to come. Taking candid shots over the weekend can be fun. I carry a small mirrorless camera with me but also use my camera phone often too. All of the photos I took for my three sample pages were taken with my camera phone. Journaling isn’t required but sure makes the pages more interesting if you document how you spend your weekend. You might think that your weekend isn’t interesting enough to scrap about but, believe me, it is. What you do, where you go, how you spend your time, these change over time and it’s fun to look back on pages that document it.

This page is about food, how I discovered a new and simple recipe that I love. After spending most of Saturday preparing and cooking some freezer meals, I made this recipe I found on Pinterest. If I want to try a new recipe I usually wait until the weekend to try it out, when I have more time, as I work Monday-Friday. Food is a great topic for a page; you can scrap about what you ate, where you shopped, maybe a recipe you tried out. The possibilities are endless.

Maybe you might want to document not only your own weekend plans but the plans of your family and/or friends. This page documents how my husband likes to spend his weekend. He drives a lot during the week and on the weekend he is happy to sit back and relax. This page about what he likes to do on the weekend shows how different our weekends are. Mine are usually much busier and I get outdoors a lot more than he does. So this page reminds me of how different our plans can be.

You don’t have to scrap about how you spend your whole weekend; try scrapping a page about part of your day, maybe just the morning, like I did for this page. I scrapped about how I usually spend my Saturday and Sunday mornings. It is my favorite time of the weekend, as I get to relax, have some “me” time and know that I still have lots of time to get all the mundane chores and errands done before Monday, when my work week starts.

I hope that I have inspired you to scrap about your weekend. Head over to the challenge forum to check out  this month’s challenges; one of them will be my challenge to scrap about your weekend.  I hope you participate and have fun!

About The Author:  Rae is a member of The Digital Press CT team. She lives on the west coast of BC, Canada with her husband and Labradoodle, Taz. Digital scrapbooking and photography are her passion. Along with landscape, nature and architectural photography, she enjoys snapping candid photos of her daily life.